Nasal Fracture
Find Out More About Nasal Fracture
A broken nose is a traumatizing and painful event that can lead to nasal congestion, a cosmetic problem, or both. Some signs that your nose has been broken are obvious, such as when the nasal bones are visibly moved. Other more subtle signs are black and blue changes to the skin under the eyes. After the initial trauma, swelling quickly occurs. In many cases, this makes the injury seem worse than it actually is once the swelling goes down in about 5 days. If you think that you might have a broken nose, it’s important to be evaluated within a week before the bones reset and are more difficult to treat.
MAKE AN APPOINTMENTTreatment Options for Nasal Fractures
Some nasal fractures are “hairline” meaning that the bone cracks but does not actually move. These fractures do not need to be repaired since they do not cause a cosmetic problem; however, the inside of your nose needs to be checked to make sure that the septum has not been injured or bent. If the fracture causes the bones to move, then there is an approximately 9-day window during which the bones can be moved back to their original position during a brief treatment called a closed reduction, performed in our office. Once this 9-day window has passed, a more involving procedure called a rhinoplasty can be performed to correct the problem in a nearby operating room. Some fractures are so severe that an office-based repair is not an option; however, anything can be fixed, it just depends on whether the repair can be done in the office or needs to be done under general anesthesia in the operating room.
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